The Great Chicken Wing Debate .

[WhitewalkerInPhilly]

Unrelated, does anyone know where to get a sauce that is similar to Bar Bill's Hot? Anchor Bar ships, and that's ok, but I would love another option. I like a strong burn that where for the last two wings I indulge in some blue cheese.

[skibum]

I'm a Rochester guy, and we have our own wing style there, the archetypes being Country Sweet and Sal's Birdland. Tossed in flour, deep fried, and ladled with a thick, syrupy sweet hot sauce. Loved it when I was 16, but my body can't tolerate that level of corn syrup anymore. But they are undeniably decadent and delicious. 

 

Any of you Buffalonians ever experience Rochester-style wings? I'm curious to know what folks think of them. I imagine they can really split a room.

Edited December 20, 2023 by skibum

[US Egg]

2 hours ago, HIT BY SPIKES said:

I don’t think the jumbo roaster chicken wings up here in Canada are anywhere near as enormous as the ones you have south of the border due to different poultry regulation regimes.

My niece went to a mass poultry production “farm” years back, here in the states.
 

Many were so big they couldn’t stand and their legs would break.

 

Not the chickens of yore, that’s for sure.

[msw2112]

Wings not being crispy is the worst.  Something that can be so good is rendered so disgusting....I prefer traditional Buffalo wings:  not breaded, fried to a crisp, and in butter/Frank's sauce.  I have come around to enjoying other "wings" (garlic parmesan, BBQ, lemon pepper, baked, smoked, etc.) but they are not "Buffalo" wings and will never be.  I am able to make pretty good ones in an air fryer and found that to be a pleasant surprise.  See image below and note that I didn't have any celery on hand that day....When I was in grad school several years ago, my buddies and I went out and bought a countertop deep fryer to make wings and despite all the oil, those were not as crispy as I can create in an air fryer.  I think that to get a real crisp using oil, you need a restaurant/commercial standard deep fryer.

[Don Otreply]

Wings should never have breading, should be done in a fryer, with Various sauces and blue cheese (if you’re not a savage) after cooking.  Wings are not a health food, so no removal of the skin for gods sake…, 

 

You can agree with me or be wrong, 

 

 

 

😂

[skibum]

3 minutes ago, msw2112 said:

Wings not being crispy is the worst.  Something that can be so good is rendered so disgusting....I prefer traditional Buffalo wings:  not breaded, fried to a crisp, and in butter/Frank's sauce.  I have come around to enjoying other "wings" (garlic parmesan, BBQ, lemon pepper, baked, smoked, etc.) but they are not "Buffalo" wings and will never be.  I am able to make pretty good ones in an air fryer and found that to be a pleasant surprise.  See image below and note that I didn't have any celery on hand that day....When I was in grad school several years ago, my buddies and I went out and bought a countertop deep fryer to make wings and despite all the oil, those were not as crispy as I can create in an air fryer.  I think that to get a real crisp using oil, you need a restaurant/commercial standard deep fryer.

 

True, wings have enough fat to "deep fry" themselves. A little fry-daddy can't maintain temperature when you dunk a bunch of room temperature meat in it. 

[Ray Stonada]

Everything comes in too many flavors and choices these days…

 

Can’t get wings at any restaurants around me so I fry them at home in a wok for 13-14 minutes till nice and crispy and toss with Frank’s and a bit of butter.
 

Lately I tried baking them and was surprised they’re just as good… definitely as crispy. You salt them and space them out and then a couple of times over a 30-40 minute bake. 

[teef]

22 minutes ago, skibum said:

I'm a Rochester guy, and we have our own wing style there, the archetypes being Country Sweet and Sal's Birdland. Tossed in flour, deep fried, and ladled with a thick, syrupy sweet hot sauce. Loved it when I was 16, but my body can't tolerate that level of corn syrup anymore. But they are undeniably decadent and delicious. 

 

Any of you Buffalonians ever experience Rochester-style wings? I'm curious to know what folks think of them. I imagine they can really split a room.

my wife loves country sweet.  we always have a bottle of it in our fridge and she puts in on everything, (she doesn't really love wings).  i appreciate it, but the sweet has always been a bit much for me too.  the fun was going to the one on monroe ave just to catch the vibe.  i remember seeing one of the cooks wrestle a homeless man out of the building one night.  you can't get that entertainment most places.

[hondo in seattle]

I've eaten some really good breaded wings.  But it's not Buffalonian.  When we cook wings at home, they're always naked.

I agree with the sentiment that wings can be too big.  It throws off the seasoning-to-meat ratio.

 

As a matter of tradition, we nearly always have wings on game day.  But it would be boring to eat traditional Frank's-with-butter wings every week.  So we mix it up with Filipino, Chinese, Brazilian, Thai, etc. recipes.  Sometimes I make a kind of Korean-Latin fusion sauce with Gojuchang, tomatillo, tomato, and spices.  Really good!

 

We often bake the wings out of laziness but they're better when we double-fry them.  I haven't yet tried the confit/fry-at-low-temp method but will.  

 

 

[WingMan]

I have a lot of experience with making and more with eating wings throughout the US and internationally. Believe it or not they have been frying and eating wings longer in Asian countries than we have been doing it in the US.

 

To answer your question: I think a medium or average sized wing by Buffalo standards is more than big enough. Too small and they are tedious to eat and prepare. Too big and you seem to get less of the crispy surface and they take forever to cook. Also, a premium price for the large wings.

 

I’m not a big fan of heavy breading but I have had plenty of wings with a bread like coating that were delicious. I favor naked but wings but I believe that wings should be judged by the end product like any other food. 

 

Outside of buffalo I almost always ask for extra crispy. Biggest issue for me is a flabby wing. A more common problem I noticed when visiting buffalo lately. 

 

I have personally experimented with all types of sauces. I love a lot of Asian inspired sauces. Sweet, salty, hot with other interesting flavors.

 

I think the best evolution of the wing is to char them after frying then sauce again. I love a crispy, saucy wing.

 

FYI. I have lived in Phoenix for the last 25 years but I spend a few months in Buffalo every year to get good wings and pizza. I love to see new developments with the food. 

 

 

[djp14150]

Sweep or end around?  

Wings or fingers?

[Fleezoid]

2 hours ago, I'm Spartacus said:

I'm not a fan of the breaded wing, however a place in Buffalo suburb called Sal's has outstanding wings and they have a breading (don't get the hots if you don't want a major burn!). I also prefer medium sized wings. The jumbo size is overkill. In the old days they came with celery and carrots. Now it's just the celery. Duff's is still my go to because they are always consistent.

 

I grew up there. Could actually walk to Sal's. We would go and get wings and pitchers of beer. Every time a table would order the super hot, or extra hot, whatever they were called, Sal would bring them over with a sinister giggle if he knew they were trying for the first time. I couldn't do those. 

[Saxum]

No breading unless takeout fast food.

 

Do wings other than chicken count?  I have had some delicious duck wings and if you think raw chicken wings are costly, duck wings are even more costly.

 

Turkey wings are different. My mother-in-law and sister-in-law came to visit from Hong Kong and since we had a turkey she cooked it IN THE WOK.

I prefer dark meat and will eat two full drumsticks but the wings were excellent.  They were crisp without being dry or crunchy and when you broke one the heat steamed out.  She basted the turkey with a combination of soy sauce, ginger and garlic. The meat in the wing were cooked in the turkey's natural fat.

 

My wife makes chicken wings (she actually likes wings more than I).  I bought a case (40#) of mis-cut wings at 50 cent a pound.  As far as I can tell I can see no difference other than maybe not perfectly cut right joint spot.

 

She will use any sauce I like but on her own she will use same Chinese BBQ (char) powder used on pork.   I still dip them in blue cheese (Maria's) when available. 

 

https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2FneNpg5s_m10%2Fsddefault.jpg&tbnid=OJ2JRZfwLi4JBM&vet=12ahUKEwiR0L6BgJ-DAxWoK2IAHV1hD1wQMygBegQIARBT..i&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DneNpg5s_m10&docid=Jsa0nZkW5vnstM&w=640&h=480&q=chinese bbq chicken wings char&ved=2ahUKEwiR0L6BgJ-DAxWoK2IAHV1hD1wQMygBegQIARBT

 

 

 

I like Hawaiian wings and those are best large size for they are stuffed.  Vietnamese and Thai stuffed wings are good too.

 

Ate at a Thai restaurant which stuffed wings with chopped carrots and celery very fine and sweet chili sauce and cooked with Buffalo sauce using genuine Frank's HotSauce.

 

[GerstAusGosheim]

No breading. Extra crispy. Small to medium. Never Ranch. Flavor-wise, Bar Bill mild is king. 

[John from Riverside]

I don’t get the authentic like you guys do need me here in California I like mango habanero wings

[jethro_tull]

NO BREADING

Large are OK as long as they are crispy. 

Traditional franks sauce- medium. 

Blue cheese - no ranch

My local market in suburban chicago area (Jewel) sells the "drumettes" by the pound- no cutting no wing tips and that is OK by me, although they are pricy.  

Wings in the meat department used to be super cheap.  Last time I bought 5 packages of 24 each it was over SIXTY DOLLARS ! 

[fergie's ire]

48 minutes ago, msw2112 said:

Wings not being crispy is the worst.  Something that can be so good is rendered so disgusting....I prefer traditional Buffalo wings:  not breaded, fried to a crisp, and in butter/Frank's sauce.  I have come around to enjoying other "wings" (garlic parmesan, BBQ, lemon pepper, baked, smoked, etc.) but they are not "Buffalo" wings and will never be.  I am able to make pretty good ones in an air fryer and found that to be a pleasant surprise.  See image below and note that I didn't have any celery on hand that day....When I was in grad school several years ago, my buddies and I went out and bought a countertop deep fryer to make wings and despite all the oil, those were not as crispy as I can create in an air fryer.  I think that to get a real crisp using oil, you need a restaurant/commercial standard deep fryer.

Side note.  Nice Wegman's Bills Pilsner of yore.  Used to have a couple of these but they didn't survive all my moves back in the day.

[Mr. WEO]

3 hours ago, I'm Spartacus said:

I'm not a fan of the breaded wing, however a place in Buffalo suburb called Sal's has outstanding wings and they have a breading (don't get the hots if you don't want a major burn!). I also prefer medium sized wings. The jumbo size is overkill. In the old days they came with celery and carrots. Now it's just the celery. Duff's is still my go to because they are always consistent.

 

Sals Birdland?  A Rochester institution for decades.  the only battered wings one may eat

[Draconator]

Gotta give my vote for Bar at Main and Hamlin in East Aurora for the best wings. Crispy, meaty but not oversized, and amazing sauces. They do it right. 

[CheshireCT]

I live in Europe and the best you can get here are from a local hard rock chain, so yeah not very good lol. I started making my own wings during the pandemic, first deep frying in a pot and then eventually buying a deep fryer. The one I got was 80 bucks or so and works really well, it also has a compartment below to drain the oil when you’re done. I use peanut oil and my wings are kick ass. Funny we’re talking about wing size, because over here the default size is TINY, lol. It’s hard for me to find a wing that would even be considered “small” back home.